Old Ebu/Brebia Basic School needs infrastructure

The Primary section of the Old Ebu/Brebia District Assembly (D/A) Basic School in the Asebu Kwamankese (AAK) District of the Central Region is in dire need of infrastructure to save the school from collapsing.

The dilapidated structure built in 1969 was sited in a water-logged area and thus gets flooded whenever it rains, destroying the already insufficient furniture, teaching and learning materials, disrupting academic work.

Ms. Rebecca Nkyi, the headmistress of the Primary Section, consequently, made an appeal to the Government and other stakeholders in education to go to their aid, at the 52nd Anniversary of the school.

The anniversary was on the theme: “Making Education a continuing process.”

The school, which was first established in 1962 as the old Ebu Local Authority (L/A) Primary school with 20 pupils, now has a population of 500 from the kindergarten to the JHS level.

Ms Nkyi said due to the insufficient furniture, four pupils occupied one desk, a situation which was creating inconvenience and gravely affecting their handwriting and academic work.

She enumerated other needs of the school as electricity to connect computers for practical Information and Communication Technology (ICT) lessons and teacher’s bungalows to ease the long-distance travel to school.

Despite these challenges, candidates who sat for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), according to the headmistress, scored a 100 per cent pass with the best candidate scoring aggregate 10 and the lowest getting aggregate 30.

She expressed optimism that the pupils could do better if the challenges facing the school were addressed and stressed the need for immediate response to the appeal.

The AAK District Director of Education, Mrs. Helpina Adams, noted that education delivery was a shared responsibility and urged stakeholders to play their respective roles.

She said the directorate would continue to play its role by providing the school with the needed logistics and, therefore, called on traditional authorities, philanthropists, past students, and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to also support the school.

The AAK District Chief Executive, Mr. William Atta Mends, expressed worry that some parents borrowed money from their children, saying that, the habit encouraged girls to engage in relationships with men who often took advantage of them leading to teenage pregnancies.

He also complained that some girls under scholarship from Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), an NGO, were pregnant and called on parents to make their children’s education their priority and monitor their activities.

Some pupils with outstanding academic records were presented with prizes.